Dive Report Panama City July 25 - 26

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Tom Smedley

Tommy
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
Messages
2,272
Reaction score
52
Location
Montgomery, AL
# of dives
We left Montgomery early Saturday morning and set the cruise control for just under the speed limit. It seems that the local gendarmerie is using us motorists to supplement their budgets. We didn’t want to give them a chance at our diving dollars, although some folks on the trip did.

Our favorite eatery in Bonifay has closed so we decided on lunch at Dee’s in Vernon. A grouper plate with onion rings proved tasty and we were on our way again. It’s amazing what you notice on the roadside when you leave early and take your time. We always enjoy the wetlands with cypress trunks spread wide at the bottom, duckweed colored water, and water lilies in full bloom contrasting with snow white egrets waiting patiently for an unwary frog or fish.

We rode the Island Diver with only ten divers, found calm seas, great visibility, and although it was warm on the surface that aggravating thermocline hangs out again this year about ten feet above the bottom – right where you want to see stuff.

Our first dive was Stage-One. There was no current and visibility on the bottom was the best I have ever seen at this site. From top of the rubble one could see a wide area of the bottom. We used a reel just in case and explored from one side to the other. We saw large flounder, blue gobies hovering above the sand and the usual cadre of large and friendly angelfish. Bottom time ran out all too soon.

We chose Bridge Span 14 for the night dive. The sunset faded behind clouds on the horizon and we missed the green flash. Visibility was so great that I held the ladder on the Island Diver and could clearly see the strobe on the anchor line. We saw a turban shell with its mantle spread wide, two cowries, flounder and a sassy octopus. A jewfish about a hundred pounds hung around underneath the bridge girders and wasn’t shy at all. On ascent tiny sparks flew from my fingertips as bioluminescence danced in the dark.

We had dinner at Dock Hoppers. Still a class act with great service, friendly staff, and tasty food. I don’t think I remember going to bed Saturday night but I do remember the early alarm on Sunday.

We headed out on the Captain Scuba II. The ride was noticeably bumpier than the Island Diver. For our first dive we chose Bridge Span 12 and a good choice it turned out to be. We ensured that all the new boat divers made it to the bottom and had a great time. The visibility must have been fifty feet. We went from one end of the span to the other. The roadbed here is largely covered with sand. There were flounder, thick schools of spadefish, and the bait fish were so thick they obscured visibility. Then another jewfish – this one larger – hammed it up for us, remora streaming from its belly. We found an anemone with a baitfish firmly in its tentacles.

We moved to the newest wreck in Panama City, the Red Sea. To tell the truth I didn’t expect to see much since she’s been down such a short time but this wreck is teeming with life. Once again the baitfish became a real pest. So thick that at times we couldn’t even see the wreck. Jim found his first sand dollar. A silly remora went around the wheelhouse trying to attach to the boat. Baby filefish flittered around the railings and on top we found full grown Molly Millers. They jealously claimed their holes and flaunted candy striped cilia atop their heads. I still believe that blennies were placed on earth for the sole purpose of our entertainment. We had gas left and we had time left but we gave up the dive after fifty minutes out of courtesy. Divers from another boat joined us on the anchor line and it was a chore to convince them they were on the wrong boat.

The drive home with the cruise control set on the speed limit was sad but pleasant. We watched the sky flicker with lightening flashes far off to the west. Ate at Hungry Howie’s in Bonifay, looked at the weekend’s pictures on the laptop and generally enjoyed ourselves as the miles ticked off the new GPS.

Weekends with perfect conditions are indeed rare. We couldn’t stop remembering the neat stuff we saw. Those thoughts only giving way to plans for next time.
 
Thnx for sharing and so many baitfish that they were a pest(lol)
 
very nice report Tommy I enjoyed it very much. How bout some pics?
 
2420134WPC0907-Bairfish001.jpg


2420135WPC0907-GiantTun001.jpg


2420136WPC0907-Jewfish005.jpg


2420137WPC00907-Nudibranch002.jpg


2420138wPC0907-Octopus002.jpg


2420139WPC-0907-MollyMiller001.jpg
 
Tommy - great pictures. Is the big fish the one from Bridge Span #12?
 
I was one of those folks on the trip that helped out the Dale County budget with a speeding ticket that I got a few miles south of Enterprise Sunday afternoon.
 

Back
Top Bottom